The 24th Chapter of Acts.... and the 24th day of our study...

Ok.... Again with the false accusations!  The Pharisees put up all these charges against Paul, and then he gets to defend himself and point out that they have no proof.  They might have well said that he dressed up as the Easter Bunny... they would have had more proof.  The Jewish guys even brought in a lawyer to argue their case.

Paul admits he is part of the Way, and that he strives to keep a clear conscience before God.  Paul establishes that he is only on trial because he believes that the dead will rise.

He ends up having many discussions over the next few years with Felix (whose wife was a Jew), and Felix keeps bringing him back to him thinking that Paul might try to bribe his way out of jail.  But then Felix is finished his posting and Paul is left in prison.....

Acts chapter 23… and yes, day 23.

So this chapter begins with Paul’s appearance before the Jewish council. These are the Pharisees and Sadducees that are the religious leaders. You can see the stage is setting for a bit of a verbal joust, and it’s like Paul knows them better than they know themselves. Paul tells them that he lives with a clear conscience before God, and they take this to be blasphemous. Paul attacks first and calls them hypocrites for slapping him. Unfortunately he snapped at the high priest. Just a question that comes to mind for me… Why would Paul have not known that this was the high priest of the time? Would he not have been dressed in ceremonial garb? Not sure what to think there. He backs down though.

Paul was a Pharisee, and he knows what a Pharisee believes. He also knows where a Sadducee disagrees… and he uses this to his advantage. Rather than trying him, they get into an argument over whether there is resurrection of the dead (where Paul’s hope as a Christian lies). I can almost see the smirk on his face as they get distracted, but then things turn violent and soldiers have to step in and remove Paul.

This really gets the council angry and they set aside 40 men that are not going to eat or drink until Paul has been killed… But there is a spy (Paul’s nephew), and he goes and tells the Roman Commander about the plot. Immediately he acts and sneaks Paul out a different way and this time Paul goes to the Governor’s palace. SO there are some guys that are all hungry, and Paul gets a chance to maybe spread the faith to the Governor.

It just goes to show how it may get intense in the life of a Christian, but no one will die until it is God’s time for them to die AND God moves people to the places where he wants them to go…

Acts 22 – Day 22… Into our final week…

This chapter opens with Paul addressing the crowd after they tried to beat him and (I would guess) kill him. Back near the beginning I said that this Pharisee was important. His name was Gamaliel. He was the one that told the others on the council to just let the disciples of Jesus do what they were going to do. If it was of God, they did not want to be fighting against it, and if the Gospel was not from God, then it would fizzle out. Wise man. He was Paul’s mentor… so how did Paul miss this part? Guess the Holy Spirit is better at his job that I would be. J

 

 

Paul describes his conversion experience on the road to Damascus. He describes how he had to integrate into the church community. He then tells the people here in Jerusalem that God sent him to go preach to the Gentiles. At this point, people freak out and start taking off their robes as if he spoke blasphemy, and the threw things at him.

 

 

It looks like the Romans were clueless as to why Paul was getting such a reaction from the crowd, so they drag him inside to have him whipped. The thinking here is that Paul might confess his crimes under pain. Paul has one card left to play though. He is a Roman citizen, and he has the right to a trial before punishment. The soldiers back off very quickly when they see that they almost beat a man protected by Roman law.

 

 

So Paul avoids a beating, but we also see how valuable it was to be a Roman citizen in that time in history. People paid a lot of money to be a citizen, while Paul was born into it. Now Paul goes before the Jewish council.